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Russia was clearly one of the winners from President Obama's decision. 'I very much hope that this correct and brave decision will be followed by others,' Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told reporters.
AP Photo

LOSERS

Alabama

Soon after the president’s announcement Thursday, Rep. Parker Griffith (D-Ala.) came under attack by Republicans, who accused him of not marshalling Democratic support to keep missile defense jobs in his district.

The first-term, Blue Dog Democrat represents Huntsville, Ala., where the Boeing’s ground-based missile defense research is based. His district has 32,000 military jobs and is home to 78,000 military retirees.

“Either Parker Griffith doesn’t have the gumption to stand up to his party’s president, or he’s a woefully ineffective advocate for Tennessee Valley jobs,” said NRCC spokesman Andy Sere.

Griffith did not respond to requests for comment.

Boeing

Boeing’s ground-based missile system has been cut off at the knees – first by Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ decision to scale back those systems in California and Alaska, and now by the President’s decision to cut the Bush Administration’s European missile shield.

The loss comes on the back of other cuts by Gates to Boeing’s transformational communications satellite, its Combat Search and Rescue helicopter, and its large role in the Future Combat Systems.

The Pentagon is going to keep part of the European missile defense shield alive with research and development dollars – but that’s far smaller piece of the pie than what comes with production.

Company spokeswoman Jessica Carlton said it’s too early to know exactly how Boeing’s operations in Huntsville will be affected.

"Boeing is proud of our role as the prime contractor for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system,” Carlton said. “We look forward to continuing our efforts on the development, application and flexibility of the two-stage interceptor as it builds on the proven technology of the GMD system to meet new and evolving threats."

The Army

The net impact of the decision on the Army is unclear, but it’s hard to see how the service comes out ahead. It may pick up the management of ground-based missile systems as they are rolled out in Europe, and it manages land-based operations for THAAD missiles, which will have a role in the new system announced by Obama.

But some analysts expect a food fight between the Army’s missile operations in Hunstville, Ala., and the Navy’s emerging missile research center in Dahlgren, Va.. The momentum seems to be with the Navy as the Boeing missile defense system based in Huntsville is scaled back and budgets for the ship-board Aegis and SM-3 increase.

In the future, the Army and the Navy may go head to head over who manages the land-based variant of the SM-3. The Pentagon would like to send it to three sites in Europe, but that is not scheduled until 2018.

Poland

The timing of Obama’s decision couldn’t have been worse, coming on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland. Although Poland will still be able to buy Patriot missiles and have a U.S. military presence on its soil, for many Poles, the decision not to base interceptors in their country underscored the folly of relying on fickle allies.

“Americans have always cared only about their interests, and all other [countries] have been used for their purposes. This is another example,” said Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa Walesa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983. Poles “need to review our view of America. We must first of all take care of our business.”

Absent from all the smoke-and-mirrors discussion about scrapping the Bush European missile defense plan is any coverage of the 'rogue state' threat rationale for deploying the system that included defending against threats from North Korea. All we are hearing about are mitigated threats from Iran. There was more to the plan than just defending against threats from Iran. Dig deeper.

And really, the Navy is not a winner. The Navy is currently charged with supporting OIF, OEF, the NATO counterpiracy mission and a general maritime presence in the region. I'm not sure adding the role of mobile missile shield for Europe is something they want to take on. However, Obama can simply threaten to move the shield out if say, Israel strikes Iran.

The missile system Bush announced served to drive Russia closer to Iran and was a step towards restarting the Cold War. What was he thinking? Aren't the arms manufacturers selling enough arms for the two wars we already are in? Aren't we going into debt fast enough already?

Judging from the reaction from the right, it's clear this was more about pushing Russia back than any threat from Iranian missiles.

After we announced the plan to end the missile program, Russia announced that it is going to not deploy a system by the Baltics. Cold War over! Why aren't the right wingers pouring Reaganesque praise on Obama? What's with the vitriol?

NATO announced discussions with Russia concerning trilateral missile defense, NATO, Russia, and the U.S. Doesn't that sound like a more effective defense for Europe from Iranian missiles? And it will cost U.S. taxpayers less money. Win-win!

This is all about politics. Republicans cannot let Obama make any progress on any front, Republicans obviously want Obama to lose. But by extension, why do so many other people have to lose as well?

Ahmad genocide of Iran who wants to destroy the United States and Israel for

religious reasons is the grand prise winner .

This is of course another lie from the warmongering neocons. Mitt famously said in a Republican primary debate that if Saddam had alowed UN inspectors into Iraq our invasion would have been unnecessary. That ignoramus didn't even know Saddam had allowed inspectors in and they were finding no WMD because there were none. The Bush neocon administration kicked out the inspectors so we could administer shock and awe. Our nation then experienced shock and awe at the thousands of US deaths as well as the Iraq war price tag of $3 trillion, all borrowed.

Now the same neocons are trying to lie us into an unnecessary war with Iran. They were hoping to restart the Cold War simultaneously. And by the way, the Polish and Czech populations overwhelmingly opposed our provocative anti-ICBM bases there which had caused Russia to threaten to place its missiles right next to them. The Poles and Czechs don't want to restart the Cold War either.

Soon after the president’s announcement Thursday, Rep. Parker Griffith (D-Ala.) came under attack by Republicans, who accused him of not marshalling Democratic support to keep missile defense jobs in his district. By JEN DIMASCIO

This is the problem on both sides in Congress. It doesn't matter if a system is needed or works no one wants to cut it because people lose their jobs. People complain about the cost of health care reform but no one complains about the Billions we waste on military spending that the military doesn't want but Congress does.

I read somewhere that this Bush-Cheney anti-missile thing would have cost hundreds of billions of dollars over the years, perhaps as much as a trillion dollars. If so, then it was one of those gigantic Republican boondoggles and giveaways to the defense industry that we cannot afford. It would be better and cheaper to keep negotiating reductions in nuclear weapons with Russia than to expend so much money on these things--especially when we have all these problems at home.

I definitely don't want another Cold War with Russia, and I have never believed they intended to attack NATO, so it's better to use the money saved for domestic purposes. We are no longer the Great Superpower of 1945 anyway, and we are not strong enough to play this role of hegemon all over the world.

These Blue Dog Democrats and Dixiecrats who think they can get away with voting against the president's domestic reforms should not get any consideration when it comes time to divide up the pie--whatever is left of the pie at this point.

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The Socialist Party of America aka: Dems are smiling from ear to ear. Everything our fathers fought and died for will be gone, sooner than you thought possible. As he leaves our allies in limbo, scrambling for cover, he dis-assembles the intelligence community (Nancy and Eric Holder), cripples the free market economy and taxes our children into oblivion. Our elderly will lose most of what they worked for having to accept what the czars leave them or tell them to accept. The black bigot socialist president will force anyone who disagrees with him to grovel in the face of abusive attacks on their character and shadow groups like acorn, and thirty or forty of the George Soros funded "alliances for" will insure that no counter argument gains any steam. Govt. Moters. , Govt. Electric, Govt. Health, Govt. Media (PBS), Govt. Religion (Global Warming),.......ALL OBAMA ALL DAY EVERY DAY DAY IN AND DAY OUT OVER AND OVER AND OVER LIKE CHAVEZ CASTRO PUTIN IMADINNERJACKET QADAFFY.....OBAMA ALL DAY.....

There is another alternative to not deploying the anti missile system. Destroy the threat at the source before it is deployed. Cheaper in the long run too. There is no need for an anti missile system if there is no missile to defend against. Boom!

This was a wise decision, and truly one that makes our security stronger. We've got to go beyond just thinking only in terms of our own profit and interest, or in this case, interest of an allie, whom actually are responsible for their own. The benefits far outweigh the so-called, losses. I see it as a win for America, and it is time we value our own security and interest, above some of our allies, whom often have more than once betrayed us.